Marsch has informed the CSA of his desire to coach the Canadian national team, sources say, and Nick Sabetti argues he's the ideal candidate to bring the Reds forward towards 2018.

By Nick Sabetti

Dec 18, 2012 9:34:00 AM

Between the Canadian women’s national team’s unprecedented
bronze medal at the Olympics in London, to the men’s team’s utterly
mortifying 8-1 loss and elimination from World Cup qualifying at
the hands of Honduras, the Canadian Soccer Association’s centennial
year could not have had more emotional contrast.

But as much as the women’s Olympic bronze was a resounding
triumph, it was the men’s agonizing loss to Honduras that is more
indicative of the state of the beautiful game in the Great White
North.

As far as the development of soccer players is concerned, except
for four professional clubs – Toronto FC, Vancouver Whitecaps,
Montreal Impact and FC Edmonton – Canada has extremely little
to offer. Without a professional soccer league that it can call its
own, Canada’s success on the international stage will likely be
intermittent at best.

The women’s team has had success, but only because women’s
soccer is relatively new and largely underdeveloped worldwide.
Without a league of its own, women’s soccer in Canada will
eventually undergo the same sort of stagnation and disappointment
that has plagued the vast majority of the men’s program’s one
hundred years.

The creation of Canadian professional soccer leagues has to be
the first priority for the long term.

In the short term, the Canadian men’s team still needs to
compete. There’s already another Gold Cup to fight for next summer
and the focus now for the CSA is to find a replacement for departed
head coach Stephen Hart.

One candidate is former Montreal Impact boss Jesse Marsch, as
sources told Goal.com last week that the Racine, Wisconsin native
has formally expressed his desire with the CSA to become the next
head coach of the Canadian national team.

And he would be a perfect fit.

Marsch’s experience as an assistant coach with the U.S. national
team under Bob Bradley and familiarity with national team
preparation and the ins and outs of U.S. soccer, along with his
experience of coaching the Impact and his knowledge of the Canadian
soccer landscape and awareness of its difficulties and hurdles,
would make him a great asset.

Despite the challenges of leading an expansion side and being at
the helm for the very first time, Marsch had a successful first
season with the Impact, leading the team to one of the better
seasons ever posted by an expansion side. Given the results he was
able to attain and the many trials he was able to overcome, Marsch
certainly deserved to stay on for another season. However, because
of “differences in philosophy” Marsch and the Impact eventually
“parted ways” after the season’s conclusion.

It’s unclear whether this seemingly premature decision to have
Marsch leave the Impact after one season and replace him with what
is expected to be a European coach will pay dividends or backfire,
but the decision certainly created a shock wave of criticism in the
Impact's world.